For the first time, South Sudan and Kosovo have been recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Kosovo, which was a province of the former Yugoslavia, will have 8 athletes competing; and a good shot for a medal in women's judo: Majlinda Kelmendi is considered a favorite. She's ranked first in the world in her weight class.

(PHOTO: Workers set up camp at Santiago's Rio Mapocho/Mason Bryan, The Santiago Times)Chile nears 1 month without mail service as postal worker protests continue. This week local branches of the 5 unions representing Correos de Chile voted on whether to continue their strike into a 2nd month, rejecting the union's offer. For a week the workers have set up camp on the banks of Santiago's Río Mapocho displaying banners outlining their demands; framing the issue as a division of the rich & the poor. The strike’s main slogan? “Si tocan a uno, nos tocan a todos,” it reads - if it affects 1 of us, it affects all of us. (Read more at The Santiago Times)

WHO convenes emergency talks on MERS virus

(PHOTO: Saudi men walk to the King Fahad hospital in the city of Hofuf, east of the capital Riyadh on June 16, 2013/Fayez Nureldine)The World Health Organization announced Friday it had convened emergency talks on the enigmatic, deadly MERS virus, which is striking hardest in Saudi Arabia. The move comes amid concern about the potential impact of October's Islamic hajj pilgrimage, when millions of people from around the globe will head to & from Saudi Arabia. WHO health security chief Keiji Fukuda said the MERS meeting would take place Tuesday as a telephone conference & he told reporters it was a "proactive move". The meeting could decide whether to label MERS an international health emergency, he added. The first recorded MERS death was in June 2012 in Saudi Arabia & the number of infections has ticked up, with almost 20 per month in April, May & June taking it to 79. (Read more at Xinhua)

HUM HUMOR

"CLIMATE CHANGE: EVERYWHERE"

CARTOON: Peter Broelman, Australia/BROELMAN.com.au)

LINKS TO OTHER STORIES

Dreams and nightmares - Chinese leaders have come to realize the country should become a great paladin of the free market & democracy & embrace them strongly, just as the West is rejecting them because it's realizing they're backfiring. This is the "Chinese Dream" - working better than the American dream. Or is it just too fanciful? By Francesco Sisci

The South: Busy at the polls - South Korea's parliamentary polls will indicate how potent a national backlash is against President Lee Myung-bak's conservatism, perceived cronyism & pro-conglomerate policies, while offering insight into December's presidential vote. Desire for change in the macho milieu of politics in Seoul can be seen in a proliferation of female candidates. By Aidan Foster-Carter

Pakistan climbs 'wind' league - Pakistan is turning to wind power to help ease its desperate shortage of energy,& the country could soon be among the world's top 20 producers. Workers & farmers, their land taken for the turbine towers, may be the last to benefit. By Zofeen Ebrahim

Entries in Richard Parsons
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(HN, June 28, 2010) -- Cape Town, South Africa -- Speeding up regional integration is one of the key ways to increase Africa's attractiveness as a place to do business.

This was the common refrain among speakers at the Fortune Global Forum today. So too was the need to address the deep knowledge gap among outsiders.

Emblematic of the legacy of colonialism on the continent is the fragmented railway system - a key component for robust trade - where Africa maintains several different railway gauges. "How do you harmonize something like that?" said Iqbal Sharma, the Deputy Director General and CEO of South Africa's Trade and Investment Department.

He added: "Regional integration in Africa is something fairly new for us and it is a complex process."

While there is no lack of regional economic group memberships for a country like South Africa - these range from the African Economic Community to NEPAD to the South African Development Community - more tangible integration needs to happen for a more favourable investment environment to occur.

Especially important is investment in infrastructure, which Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons addressed by saying, “Infrastructure spending needs to move much higher on the respective agendas of African countries. If countries want to attract investment they need to invest in themselves."

Echoing the comments yesterday by former President Bill Clinton about Africa becoming a wireless continent, one investment executive said Africa is very much on the radar screen of "non-bank banks" – companies such as Nokia for instance, which seeks to empower consumers through innovations such as mobile banking - which in turn could generate more micro-financing.

Overall, the sentiment at the global forum of business leaders has moved from unfamiliarity of Africa to a feeling that western business is missing out on exciting – and potentially lucrative - opportunities on the continent.

Said renowned African woman – a Mozambican, wife of Nelson Mandela, widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Michel and women and child rights advocate Graça Machel: "This continent is changing. There is really a movement which is coming. But it needs to be strengthened and become less fragmented."

--- Reporting by HUMNEWS’ Michael Bociurkiw, at the Fortune/TIME/CNN Global Forum in Cape Town, South Africa

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